Phillies rally for 4-3 victory over Marlins

Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Saturday May 7, 2016, in Miami. (AP Photo/Gaston De Cardenas)

Gaston De Cardenas

May 07, 2016

MIAMI (AP) Andres Blanco's determination paid off in a big way for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Blanco's double in a 12-pitch at-bat against Kyle Barraclough helped spark Philadelphia to a three-run eighth inning, sending the Phillies to a 4-3 win over the Miami Marlins on Saturday night.

''I got lucky I think, a lot of foul balls, good pitches,'' Blanco said. ''He threw a lot of good ones and I was about to throw my bat, foul it off and stay alive. When you're fouling off that many pitches you pass a message. Everybody wants to do it, too. Everybody tried to keep it going. And finally, we got the run that we really needed.''

Odubel Herrera scored the go-ahead run on first baseman Chris Johnson's error.

''They say most close games are lost by one team not won necessarily won by the other team,'' Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. ''It was a little of both. That really helped us.''

Brett Oberholtzer (2-0) pitched a scoreless inning for the win. Jeanmar Gomez tossed a perfect ninth for his 10th save in 11 chances.

Marcell Ozuna and Justin Bour homered for Miami, which had won four in a row.

''Coming in and knowing this team is as hot as anybody in baseball, the way they swung the bat (Friday) night it was a little daunting to win this game, the way the guys battled back,'' Mackanin said.

Marlins right-hander Tom Koehler struck out a season-high eight over seven innings and exited with a 3-1 lead. He allowed two hits and walked two.

''Honestly just tried to do everything that I had been doing and tried to get back to attacking the zone, getting into a good rhythm, work the game plan, and not try to get four outs with one pitch,'' Koehler said.

Herrera and Cesar Hernandez hit consecutive RBI singles off Craig Breslow (0-2) with one out in the eighth, tying it at 3.

Bryan Morris relieved Breslow and got Maikel Franco to bounce into what appeared to be an inning-ending double play, but Johnson dropped the throw at first and Herrera scampered home to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead.

''Just dropped it,'' Johnson said. ''Just messed up and lost the game for us.''

Ozuna connected for his sixth homer in the second inning. Ryan Howard's sacrifice fly tied it at 1 before Bour's drive in the fourth put Miami in front again.

Koehler was handed a two-run cushion when Christian Yelich singled, stole second, and scored on Ozuna's single in the sixth.

BARRACLOUGH'S NIGHT

Barraclough entered with 10 2/3 scoreless innings on the season, but his strong start was stopped by Philadelphia's rally in the eighth.

Barraclough issued a leadoff walk to David Lough before surrendering a pinch-hit double to Andres Blanco. He got a groundout before getting lifted in favor of Breslow.

''He's been a guy that we've counted on. He's been great,'' manager Don Mattingly said. ''I think the at-bat with Blanco you can tell that he looked like he was kind of spent there throwing a lot of pitches and at that point we felt we had a better opportunity with the lefty. It didn't work.''

HERRERA AGAIN

Herrera has reached base safely in nine consecutive games against the Marlins and 20 of 21 career games. He is hitting .385 (25 of 65) in his career against Miami.

UP NEXT

Phillies: Aaron Nola (2-2, 2.93 ERA) starts Sunday's series finale. The 22-year-old right-hander is 2-0 with a 0.43 ERA over his past three starts with 21 strikeouts and four walks.

Marlins: LHP Justin Nicolino (2-0, 2.70 ERA) will be making his third start of the season. He allowed four runs in six innings in a 7-4 win over Arizona in his last start.

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